


Business As Usual

by cordeliadelayne



Category: Primeval
Genre: Action/Adventure, Anal Sex, Drama, Established Relationship, F/M, Light Angst, M/M, Multi, Shower Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-26 18:40:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7585594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When normal people have bad days at work they might have lost an important file or suffered through endless meetings. The ARC hasn't seen normal in a very long time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Business As Usual

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fredbassett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fredbassett/gifts).



> Written as a Christmas present for fredbassett, who gave the prompt “cares of the world.”
> 
> Originally posted to Livejournal in 2013.

“You need to move!” Jess shouted, all decorum forgotten as the scene before her went from “just another day at the office” to “end of the world any moment” territory.

“Road blocks?” Ryan shouted back, sounding impossibly calm despite the volume.

“In place.”

Jess turned her head as Lester came to stand next to her. His expression gave nothing away, but Jess could tell just how tense he was by the way his gaze didn't once move away from the monitors in front of her.

“Security services have secured the package,” Jess said, relaying information from MI5 as it came in. Because god forbid the ARC and MI5 should communicate on the same radio frequency.

“Bomb squad?” Ryan asked. And it was only because Jess was so attuned to everyone in the field that she heard the slight intake of breath which indicated he was now running at full pelt.

“Reporting that interference from the anomalies is making it hard to diffuse the bomb.” Jess pressed a few buttons on her keyboard, bringing up a string of information that she analysed and discarded just as quickly. “Gold command have increased the evacuation zone.”

“Connor and Abby?”

Jess glanced over at the appropriate monitor. It said something that the two members of the team dealing with a flock of extinct herbivores in Regents Park was the least of her problems today.

“Doing fine.”

“Becker?”

Jess took a moment to compose her voice. “His comm's still dark.”

“Cutter and Stephen would pick this of all week's to go on a jaunt,” Lester said and Jess flinched; she'd almost forgotten he was there.

“You could have gone to liaise with the Russian ARC team yourself,” Jess pointed out, a bit more snippily than she had intended. It wasn't anybody's fault that Becker had been out of communication now for fifteen minutes.

Lester pursed his lips but refrained from comment.

“Captain Ryan, MI5 are requesting an update. Do we have anything for them yet?”

As Jess waited eagerly for a response she spotted an incoming phone call from Downing Street. She tugged at Lester's sleeve to get his attention but he shook his head at her.

“The last locking device has been set. Ready to go on your mark, Jess.”

Jess hung up on the Prime Minister and scanned the monitors for any sign of Becker. They had to get this right – lock the anomalies to allow the bomb squad to deal with the device at Leicester Square and then work out which anomaly was the right one to send Connor and Abby's pack of whatever through.

“Are you sure that’s all of them?” Jess asked. If there was another anomaly that Ryan hadn't placed a locking device at...

“Jess, we're good,” Ryan said. “Becker can look after himself,” he added.

“Copy that,” Jess said, around the lump in her throat. “Very well. Mr Carter, Mr Sharp,” she said to the MI5 operatives waiting for her word, “on my mark. 1, 2...3.”

She heard a sharp intake of breath from beside her, but that was the only sound for a painful 30 seconds.

“Device neutralised,” Carter told her, his thick Yorkshire accent even more pronounced. Jess felt her entire body deflating with relief, before relaying the information to Ryan and Lester.

“Copy that,” Ryan said.

“Captain Ryan?” Jess asked tentatively, having noticed something in his tone that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

“I need a medical evac to my location...Man down.”

Jess rubbed angrily at the tears she could feel prickly at her eyes and contacted the appropriate emergency services.

“Status?” she asked.

“Unconscious. Breathing.”

“Was it a dinosaur?” she asked.

“Not clear,” Ryan said and there was a note in his voice that made Jess immediately wary.

“Did he try to take on the terrorists alone?” she asked.

There was no answer for a long moment, so long that Jess was about to repeat the question, possibly with the inclusion of swear words, and then, “Stand by.”

“Stand by?” Jess said, turning to Lester. “Stand by? He did didn't he? The stupid, inconsiderate...”

Lester put a hand on Jess' shoulder.

“Captain Becker is more than capable of looking after himself.”

Jess gave an unladylike snort. “Clearly not.”

She angrily stabbed at some keys on her console, switching over to the local CCTV feed. She'd had to concentrate on other areas before now – too many things she needed to look at and not enough monitors – but now she focused all of her attention on the screen where Becker was being stretchered into an ambulance. She could see Ryan too, talking to the paramedics and then moving off. Something didn’t look right though, and she and Lester noticed it at the same time.

“Is he limping?” Lester asked. “Did he report any injuries?”

“No,” Jess said. “They never do.”

If there was more than a trace of angry resignation in her tone, Lester didn't comment; he was feeling exactly the same way himself.

* * * * *

It was late by the time Ryan returned to the ARC. Lester had sent Jess home hours ago, perfectly aware that she would have gone to the hospital instead. Becker would make a full recovery from the terrorists attack, but whether he would survive Jess was a problem Lester was willing to postpone until the next day.

“You couldn't have waited for me at home?”

Lester looked up from his paperwork strewn desk. “You could have gone straight home.”

Ryan rubbed at the back of his neck self-consciously. “Knew you'd be here.”

“Knew you would come here first,” Lester responded. He loosened his tie a little and produced two glasses and a whisky bottle from his bottom desk drawer.

Ryan reached over and took the bottle, his fingers brushing against Lester's hand. He poured them both a glass and then downed his in one, refilling and sipping more slowly at his second.

“We still have that rule against office sex?” Ryan asked.

“Yes.”

“Pity.” Ryan sat on the corner of Lester's desk and waited.

Lester savoured his drink and looked off into the distance. “I don't want any stains on the carpet,” he said after a moment.

“Not sure I'm in a fit state for that kind of control,” Ryan admitted. He shifted his perch on Lester's desk a little, careful not to dislodge any papers.

Lester looked like he was in deep thought. “Showers?”

Ryan's only answer was to grab Lester's hand and pull him out of his chair and out of the office.

* * * * *

“Hurry up,” Lester panted.

“Bossy,” Ryan scolded, swatting playfully at Lester's thigh. “Need more prep.”

“No, I don't,” Lester growled. He pulled Ryan into a searing kiss and spread his legs, causing Ryan's fingers to move even deeper inside him.

“Fine,” Ryan said, “if you insist.”

“I do,” Lester said. He planted a softer kiss on Ryan's lips. “I need to forget today.”

“Everyone came back alive,” Ryan reminded him.

“Clean-up, meetings, the Prime Minister and his sodding cabinet, all of that still awaits my attention.”

Ryan lined himself up and pressed his cock into Lester with no finesse, desperate now to make the other man see stars.

“Anything you want, you know that,” Ryan murmured. Then he started to move, and Lester could say nothing, do nothing, but pant and grab on to Ryan's shoulders as Ryan fucked him as hard as he dared, just short of what Lester thought he wanted. Ryan gave in to the buzzing in his head, chasing his own orgasm, willing Lester to forget himself in sensation, just for a little while. Their lives weren't easy, especially not since they'd started this, but Ryan never wanted Lester not to realise how important he'd become.

“God, Ryan, yes,” Lester moaned as Ryan reached around him and flicked his thumb along the top of Lester's cock. It was all Lester needed and suddenly he was coming all over Ryan's hands. More desperate thrusts later and Ryan was joining him.

Aching more than he'd ever care to admit, Ryan started cleaning them up, vaguely aware that the water had now gone cold. Lester turned and pressed a quick kiss to Ryan's shoulder, the only part he could currently reach. Ryan responded by fetching their towels and drying Lester off first, then himself.

He knew how the rest of the night would pan out. They'd get dressed and go home, eat cold pasta together before heading to bed. After a few hours Lester would get out of bed and head to his home office, to check emails and type up reports. Ryan would pretend to sleep for a few hours more and then go and make coffee, placing it near Lester's elbow so he'd be sure to see it. Then he'd head back to bed where he'd doze a little, knowing he'd be no use in the field if he was tired and cranky. Lester may or may not join him, depending on how many more burdens were placed upon his shoulders.

Ryan was giving it till the end of the year and then he'd pop the question. Lester's first marriage had only started to deteriorate as his security clearance got higher, that wouldn’t be a problem with them. And he was fairly certain that Lester was at a point where he could see the advantages of a work life balance that was more than just talk.

Of course, little did he know that Lester was only going to give it to the end of the month; clichéd it may be, but sock drawers proved very useful places for hiding important jewellery.  



End file.
